


Sand and Sea

by miss_aligned



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 05:05:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7253620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_aligned/pseuds/miss_aligned
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Thank you to <a href="http://vorchagirl.tumblr.com/">@vorchagirl</a>/<a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorcha_Girl/pseuds/Vorcha_Girl">Vorcha_Girl</a> for the prompt!)</p>
<p>Commander Shepard doesn't take much time off to relax. When it happens, she's certainly out of her element.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sand and Sea

“You mean something like mudpies?” Shepard chuckled as she picked up a blanket and began walking alongside her fellow Alliance officer.

“What? No. You’ve never made a sandcastle before?” Kaidan was appalled that she’d never visited a beach. One located on Earth, anyway. For a person who had travelled as much as she did, it was astonishing how little time she’d spent on their home world.

“Unless that’s a thing you can do on a ship while fighting reapers, I don’t think so.” She playfully shoved him with her shoulder as they edged ever closer to the ocean. He breathed deeply, savoring the salty sea air. It was a welcome reminder of home.

“But you’ve made mudpies?” Somehow he couldn’t help but envision a young, angry commander` shoving mudpies in the faces of all the other kids that annoyed her. Honestly, he was sort of thankful he hadn’t known her at that age.

“No, but I know how it works… in theory. Find dirt. Add water. Now you’re telling me that it’s common practice to make a sculpture out of it. Weird.”

All Kaidan could do was smile and shake his head. He felt honored to accompany Shepard on her first official trip to the beach. It was rather entertaining to watch her try and do ‘normal people’ things every now and again. The Commander wasn’t completely out of her element very often, but when it came to things that average humans found mundane and typical, she often had no idea what was happening or why.

As he led her through the secluded area, the ground transitioned away from the stones and brush through which they’d been trudging. Kaidan kicked of his sandals and motioned to her to do the same. A wide smile crept across her lips as she dug her toes into the warm sand. The peaceful noise of waves lapping against the shore greeted them as they began making their way around the dunes. He wasn’t sure if she was doing it on purpose, but Shepard’s steps quickened at the sound as the salty breeze whipped around them.

He let her move ahead of him as they made their way around the last dune. A broad grin graced his features as he watched her absently dropping the blanket to the ground and walking up nearly to the water’s edge. Shepard silently soaked in the scenery for several long moments. Kaidan, meanwhile, also appreciated the view. The wind rustled her hair and the cover-up she was wearing over her bikini. He didn’t often get to see her completely relaxed like this, out of uniform, and enjoying herself.

Setting the bag he’d been carrying down near the blanket, he swept his shirt off over his head and let it fall with the rest of their belongings. Shepard stood, still as a statue, staring out over the ocean. He approached, placing a hand at the small of her back as he stepped up beside her.

“That’s a lot of water,” Shepard flatly said.

“Yeah,” Kaidan laughed. “It is.”

“Is it weird that it reminds me of being in space, a little?”

“No, I think that’s pretty normal. It stretches on forever and you don’t know what’s out there.” He felt her arm curl around his waist. “So… ready to go in?”

“I was just going to watch from here.”

Kaidan’s gaze shifted from the expansive waters to gauge her expression. “Are you afraid? Commander Shepard is afraid of the ocean?”

“There are fish in there,” she answered.

“You buy an awful lot of fish to be afraid of them, you know,” he responded with an amused chuckle.

“Yeah. What if they’re looking for vengeance on me? I’ve killed a lot of fish in space.”

“You’ve killed a lot of everything in space.”

She didn’t say anything further, but her bottom lip protruded in a false pout. Kaidan took that as his cue to sweep her up in his arms and begin carrying her out into the water. While she squealed and kicked, she still managed to wriggle out of her cover up before latching onto his neck and shoulders with a vice-like grip. Her screeching quickly devolved into laughter that joined his own once they were in water deep enough to touch her while tucked in his arms.

He let her down, and she timidly stood beside him, not letting go of his hand. It was hilarious to see the infamous Commander Shepard approach anything delicately, but in this of all instances, she was well out of her comfort zone. Kaidan loved it.

“See? It’s not that bad,” he reassured her. “Certainly not as dangerous as headbutting krogan or fighting reapers.”

She stood beside him, staring down at the water with a goofy grin plastered on her face. All in a moment, however, she yelped and her free hand jerked behind her back.

“What’s wrong?” Kaidan wasn’t sure whether to laugh or truly be concerned.

“Something touched me!”

“Did you just try and grab for your gun?” Now he was snickering.

“Shut up.”

Kaidan hadn’t seen anything that entertaining in a long time, and it was a while before he managed to contain his laughter. She, meanwhile, had moved further into the water and began to swim. As he wiped a rogue tear from his eye, he realized with some admiration that if there was something Shepard was particularly good at, it was facing her fears. Despite her initial trepidation, it wasn’t long before she slid through the water with every bit of grace and strength he’d come to appreciate about her.

He joined her then, swimming, splashing, and laughing alongside a woman who had not had the chance to enjoy nearly enough of the little things in her life. They shared many little tales of their vastly different childhoods and numerous salty kisses before they hauled themselves out of the waves in order to let their water-logged skin dry.

“Is it time to make your mudpie sculptures?” Shepard asked, her skin glowing and her smile widening as she moved closer.

He grinned as his head tilted. “Sandcastles. Yes.”


End file.
